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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25552843">love don't live here</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitlesshea/pseuds/caitlesshea'>caitlesshea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Malex Week 2020, michael shows up in the middle of the night with more than a suitcase, surprise visit, ten years apart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:14:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25552843</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitlesshea/pseuds/caitlesshea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael shows up on Alex's doorstep with more than a suitcase</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Michael Guerin/Alex Manes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>120</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>love don't live here</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was written for Malex Week Day 4 - Free Day</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I’m coming!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex makes it to his front door with a scowl. The </span>
  <em>
    <span>one</span>
  </em>
  <span> night he finally tries to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and some lunatic is knocking on his door at midnight. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If he was fully awake he’d be more concerned, considering no one knows where he lives, and there’s a thunderstorm raging outside, so whoever is out there </span>
  <em>
    <span>must </span>
  </em>
  <span>be crazy, so he probably </span>
  <em>
    <span>shouldn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>answer the door, but he likes to live on the edge a little. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He barely swings the door open when he sees him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Michael Guerin. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Who he hasn’t seen in ten years. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alex.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex stares at him, with his mouth hanging open like a fish out of water, until a loud crack of thunder breaks overhead and the duffel bag he’s got slung over one shoulder, that’s actually not a duffle bag, starts to cry in earnest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mind letting us in?” Michael says after a moment shifting the car seat in one hand while trying to shake the water loose from his own hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. Sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex steps aside as Michael comes in the house. Michael sets down the car seat and takes off his wet coat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Would you mind holding him? We weren’t outside for long but it woke him up. I’ve gotta make a bottle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Michael swiftly unbuckles the baby, who can’t be more than 6 months old, and then hands him to Alex. The baby quickly settles against Alex’s chest as Michael rummages through a diaper bag looking for a bottle that he takes into the kitchen. How he even knows where to go is a question for another day. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Guerin?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hmm?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Want to tell me what you’re doing here? And </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span>
  </em>
  <span> you have a baby?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah. His name is Tripp.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tripp.” Alex repeats as he touches the back of Tripp’s head lightly. Tripp gargles something as he grabs onto Alex’s shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. Well, I thought…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a good name.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Want me to take him?” Michael says as he comes over with the bottle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can feed him?” Alex asks even though he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>never </span>
  </em>
  <span>fed a baby. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure.” Michael nods toward Alex’s couch and Alex sits down gingerly and lets Michael maneuver Tripp until he’s able to eat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, it’s been a while.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Michael laughs as he settles across from Alex in a chair and smiles fondly as Alex feeds Tripp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We talk almost every day, Private.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. And you somehow forgot to mention you have a </span>
  <em>
    <span>child</span>
  </em>
  <span> that you named after my uncle.” Alex raises an eyebrow at him and Michael nods.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, Greg thought you might be upset.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, lovely, so Greg knows.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look, did you really expect me to wait for you to come back to Roswell on your own?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. But you knew where I was these last couple of years and yet you never came to visit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know why.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Alex sighs as Tripp finishes eating and Michael takes him to burp him. Tripp falls asleep almost instantly and Michael gives him back to Alex as he pulls a pack and play out of one of his duffle bags and then sets it up for Tripp to sleep in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look, with Jesse dead I figured it was only a matter of time until one of us caved. And then when we were clearing out your dad's house with Greg we went out to the toolshed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex looks away at that and Michael comes to sit down next to Alex on the couch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We found Tripp’s body.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex gasps but Michael continues. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He had some journal buried with him and it had a map, similar to the one Sanders had.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex nods as he remembers getting a scan of the map Michael’s mother had drawn for Sanders that showed where the pods were.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There was another pod?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yep. Had this little one in it.” Michael smiles as he nods toward Tripp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you brought him here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Much to everyone’s disagreement, but Alex, you haven’t been back to Roswell since you left, and I haven’t seen you, really </span>
  <em>
    <span>seen</span>
  </em>
  <span> you in ten years.” Michael cups Alex’s cheek softly and Alex leans into it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It hasn’t been easy for me, you know.” Alex brings his hand up to hold Michael’s. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know, darlin’.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex thinks back to the last time he saw Michael in person, eighteen and scared out of his mind, right before leaving for basic. Three tours and one amputation later, he finally said goodbye to the Air Force. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Helping Michael, Kyle, and his brother Greg, dismantle their tainted family legacy of Project Shephard from afar wasn’t easy either, but he refused to step foot in Roswell while his father was alive and Michael had refused to leave. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, they kept in touch. Letters, emails, phone calls, texts. In a way, speaking over the phone was easier than seeing Michael here, in his house, with a baby, even after so long apart. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t want to do another life changing declaration over the phone.” Michael chuckles and Alex thinks back to a couple of the conversations they’ve had in the past. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Alex was due to deploy, when Alex lost his leg, and finally, when Michael revealed that he was an alien and had proof that the Manes family had been hunting them for generations. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad you didn’t.” Alex says as he looks over at Tripp and then leans his forehead against Michael’s. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The moment they touch Alex knows, in his soul, that he’s found peace. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Welcome home, Michael.” </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! Come find me on Tumblr - same username!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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